IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v7y2022i5d10.1038_s41560-022-00985-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding what limits the voltage of polycrystalline CdSeTe solar cells

Author

Listed:
  • Arthur Onno

    (Arizona State University)

  • Carey Reich

    (Colorado State University)

  • Siming Li

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • Adam Danielson

    (Colorado State University)

  • William Weigand

    (Arizona State University)

  • Alexandra Bothwell

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • Sachit Grover

    (First Solar Inc.)

  • Jeff Bailey

    (First Solar Inc.)

  • Gang Xiong

    (First Solar Inc.)

  • Darius Kuciauskas

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • Walajabad Sampath

    (Colorado State University)

  • Zachary C. Holman

    (Arizona State University)

Abstract

The origin of voltage deficits in polycrystalline cadmium selenide telluride (CdSeTe) solar cells is unclear. Here, we present a comprehensive voltage loss analysis performed on state-of-the-art CdSeTe devices—fabricated at Colorado State University and First Solar—using photoluminescence techniques, including external radiative efficiency (ERE) measurements. More specifically, we report the thermodynamic voltage limit Voc,ideal, internal voltage iVoc and external voltage Voc of partially and fully finished cells fabricated with different dopant species, dopant concentrations and back contacts. Arsenic-doped aluminium-oxide-passivated cells made at Colorado State University present remarkably high ERE (>1%)—translating into iVoc above 970 mV—but suffer from poor back-contact selectivity. On the other hand, arsenic-doped devices from First Solar present almost perfect carrier selectivity (Voc = iVoc), leading to Voc above 840 mV, and are limited by recombination in various parts of the device. Thus, development of contact structures that are both passivating and selective in combination with highly luminescent absorbers is key to reducing voltage losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Arthur Onno & Carey Reich & Siming Li & Adam Danielson & William Weigand & Alexandra Bothwell & Sachit Grover & Jeff Bailey & Gang Xiong & Darius Kuciauskas & Walajabad Sampath & Zachary C. Holman, 2022. "Understanding what limits the voltage of polycrystalline CdSeTe solar cells," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(5), pages 400-408, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:7:y:2022:i:5:d:10.1038_s41560-022-00985-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-022-00985-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-022-00985-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41560-022-00985-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Artem Musiienko & Fengjiu Yang & Thomas William Gries & Chiara Frasca & Dennis Friedrich & Amran Al-Ashouri & Elifnaz Sağlamkaya & Felix Lang & Danny Kojda & Yi-Teng Huang & Valerio Stacchini & Robert, 2024. "Resolving electron and hole transport properties in semiconductor materials by constant light-induced magneto transport," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Deng-Bing Li & Sandip S. Bista & Rasha A. Awni & Sabin Neupane & Abasi Abudulimu & Xiaoming Wang & Kamala K. Subedi & Manoj K. Jamarkattel & Adam B. Phillips & Michael J. Heben & Jonathan D. Poplawsky, 2022. "20%-efficient polycrystalline Cd(Se,Te) thin-film solar cells with compositional gradient near the front junction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. A. R. Bowman & J. F. Leaver & K. Frohna & S. D. Stranks & G. Tagliabue & J. D. Major, 2024. "Spatially resolved photoluminescence analysis of the role of Se in CdSexTe1−x thin films," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:7:y:2022:i:5:d:10.1038_s41560-022-00985-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.